Final boss fights are the climax of any video game, which is why it can be jarring to meet an enemy that’s not quite what the player would expect. Bizarre bosses have become more common in gaming, as they make any ending a more fascinating or downright strange experience.
The strangest final boss encounters are those that players never saw coming. The most bizarre among these bosses often have wild transformations in the middle of the battle, weird character designs, or shocking revelations about the game and the player’s journey up to that point.
The Master Of The Supermutants (Fallout)
Before the glitzy New Vegas mods, Fallout 76 bugs, and the fleshed-out Wasteland that players know and love, there was the original Fallout game that birthed the entire franchise. In it was the iconic The Master of The Supermutants, a grotesque combination of humans, mutants, and the Cathedral’s computer network. He switches between multiple voices, creating an eerie effect that suggests there are humans trapped inside his network.
It’s an unsettling sight to see, and even more disturbing to fight with. It’s a good thing players don’t actually have to fight him. It turns out that to foil the Master’s grand plan of creating a new race of humanity, players simply have to point out to him that all super mutants are sterile and will die off after one generation. He ends his own life and lets the protagonist go in peace after learning this fact.
A Giant Slot Machine (Star Fox)
The hidden final boss in the classic spaceship shooter, Star Fox, is actually a giant Slot Machine hidden in the “Out of this Dimension” level. Defeating this strange boss will initiate the end credits and officially conclude the game.
Taking down the slot machine is no easy feat, however. Aside from the disorienting wobbly background of smiling moons, there’s distracting carnival music that only intensifies as the final boss appears. It’s a strange impromptu casino trip when the slot machine shows up. Players have to be lucky enough to shoot the handle and get a triple 7 to take it down.
Ansem/The World Of Chaos (Kingdom Hearts)
Ansem wasn’t exactly a well-loved villain in Kingdom Hearts. He was a typical arrogant antagonist that seemed like he was going to be defeated for good in the final battle of the game, that is until he merges with a giant ship and turns into the World of Chaos.
The World of Chaos is easily the largest enemy in the franchise. It’ll take any player by surprise and its closeup shots show that it’s grotesquely made of twisted up flesh and other organic matter. The flesh is a sickly mix of brown, purple, and pink hues, all the way to its disturbingly long tail. Ansem himself is sitting on top of it and is now naked, sporting completely orange eyes. It’s a truly unique but strange transformation that sets the stage for an epic final battle.
B-Win (Sunset Overdrive)
Sunset Overdrive is a game with a bizarre premise and a strange final boss, which is literally a building. An even weirder final boss in the game can actually be found in its DLC, ‘Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines.’
Players face off against a Nanobot Cloud that carries the protagonist into a console’s hard drive, which can only be reversed by defragmenting the hard drive. Finally, they activate the "B-Win Protocol" and summon Brandon Winfrey, who was a Community Manager at Insomniac Games at the time. The bots and B-Win work together in a truly bizarre and thrilling way, with lasers and mines flying from a wall of TV screens – a fitting final battle for the eccentric game.
God (The Simpsons Game)
The Simpsons Game was a wacky ride through pop culture references, cameos, parodies of other games, and more. It’s an unforgettable Simpsons game with a memorable twist in the final stage.
It’s weird enough that the final battle is a Dance Dance Revolution match against God, with him using characters like Zoidberg as pawns. But the strangest moment comes when God is defeated and Lisa asks him if he ever wonders if he’s part of a game. As the camera zooms out, it’s revealed that Ralph Wiggum has been playing The Simpsons Game all along. Only this franchise could pull off a bizarre ending like that.
Giygas (EarthBound)
The mystery RPG EarthBound (also known as Mother 2) centers on a group of friends who travel the world to stop the apocalypse. Its enemies like the Rowdy Dog and Attack Slug are nothing out of the ordinary, which is what makes its final boss so jarring. The player must travel back to the past and shut off the Devil’s Machine that holds Giygas. Upon doing so, the antagonist’s darkness is actually released, causing one of the weirdest sequences in the series.
Giygas’ essence begins to fill the screen, forming a repeating pattern that looks like bloody wallpaper. His bizarre, erratic voice adds another layer of eeriness to the entire ending. It’s a strange boss battle that has been analyzed and picked apart by game theorists and fans throughout the years.
Zarok (MediEvil)
Sir Dan Fortesque is well on his way to redeeming himself as a worthy knight of the Kingdom of Gallowmere. In MediEvil, he faces off against the evil sorcerer, Zarok, who has stolen the souls of the townspeople and raised the Undead.
The boss fight against Zarok is a difficult one but becomes even more challenging and strange when the sorcerer unexpectedly morphs into a colorful beast. The best way to describe the beast is that it looks like a chicken crossed with a lizard, with Zarok’s face as its head. If that’s not weird enough, it can also crawl around like a worm.
MegaSmith (The Matrix: Path Of Neo)
Agent Smith is one of the most iconic characters in The Matrix series, but the way he’s portrayed in The Matrix: Path of Neo is unlike any of his movie appearances. Players know they’re in for a weird boss fight when the Wachowskis pop in and stop the game.
The directors explain that they have to deviate from the narrative of the films for this part to truly give it the epic ending it deserves, and what an ending it was. A gigantic Mr. Smith made of hundreds of clones of the character as well as debris of the city emerges. It’s a surreal experience that would probably be an insane addition to the movies if they ever want an epic fight in The Matrix 4.
The Bride (Ms. Splosion Man)
Ms. Splosion Man is the hilarious sequel to the platformer, ‘Splosion Man. After exploding through the world's puzzles and defeating evil scientists and other monsters, the protagonist finds herself facing off against the bride in a challenging Punch-Out-style battle.
Right as she’s almost defeated, the bride stands up taller and reveals that her breasts are actually eyes. The lower half of her body turns out to be a massive purple monster that’s even harder to knock out. Just when players think it’s really over, the monster’s breasts start moving and turn out to be arms with brass knuckles! It’s a bizarre sequence that caps off the zany game in a humorous way.
The Credits (NieR: Automata)
Out of all the possible endings in NieR: Automata, there’s one that has stuck with fans of the series the most. In single-player mode, it’s almost impossible to defeat the horde of orbs that are strangely enough, literally the end credits of the game. Everyone from the cast to the marketing team shows up as a glowing orange orb, easily overwhelming the player’s ship.
It seems too difficult until a prompt shows up, asking players if they would like to accept help. Suddenly, the music swells and a grand chorus starts playing in the background as the player’s ship is surrounded by other players, making the level much easier to complete. The bizarre ending becomes a moving one when it’s revealed that players can choose to sacrifice their data, effectively wiping all of their progress, so that they, too, can aid other players in need in the future.